And Then There Were Five
by Cpt. Kallan Beyda
Summary: Destiny, the hidden power believed to control future events. What if Max's destiny with Tess lay not in future events, but those of the past? Wouldn't that make the connection history? And what about those five healing stones, five stars in the constellation and five sides to the pentagon communicators. They have to mean something, don't they? Rewritten and soon to be multichapter.
1. Chapter One – Destiny Rewritten

**AN** \- I've slightly revamped the original story to make it longer. Only season one occurs in this AU. I've started to watch season two. Almost immediately I've been hit by the lack of tension and flatness of the story.

**AN** \- I had to do a little astronomical study. The closest constellation I've come across is found in Pieces. The most significant star is Al Risha at 150 light years from Earth. Strangely enough, Venus entered this constellation in early February 2012, which just happens to correspond with my stories timeline. Did someone say fate?

* * *

'I always knew there was something out there,' Michael looked to the others, 'but I had no idea how important it was.'

'Things will never be the same,' Max allowed his eyes to rest on each and every being in the pod chamber. They lingered on Liz a little longer than the others as his heart suddenly sped up and his mouth went dry. Max couldn't begin to imagine what she might be thinking at this point. 'But whatever happens, we have to stay together. It's the five of us now.'

Smiling brightly, Tess looked up at her love, her destiny. She'd waited all her life for this moment, this signal from Max. 'I knew this was meant to be,' she moved to take the man she'd once called husband into her embrace.

'No,' Max reacted instinctively, his eyes never leaving Liz's shocked gaze. Pushing Tess away, he walked over to the girl of his dreams. He understood something the others didn't. Max, once the leader of his doomed planet had a flood of images as the specter of his mother spoke.

Healing Liz almost a year ago at the Crashdown café awoke his abilities in a way he'd never considered. A stream of images entwined Max's life with Liz's completely. A second connection forged days later cemented the undeniable bond between them. And that had just been the start.

In the healing cave with River Dog, there had been five stones and five lines of power. At the time they all thought the Indian Sharman chose it for his own purpose. Max knew better. Liz's fear stopped her from joining in the ceremony. She feared for his life making Max wonder what she'd unconsciously seen in the future. Yet, she'd appeared in his dreamtime without holding one of the crystals when he'd approached Michael. Even Michael turned around to acknowledge her presence.

Somehow Max knew. He understood his mother meant Tess to be his destiny is this life, just as she'd been in the last one. Max Evan's human side rebelled at the thought. It demanded he choose differently, choose an alternative path, one that meant something to him.

_No, not my human side,_ Max's conscious whispered_, the forces of the universe have conspired to give me another possible future. We perished before, perished because of whom we were and the bonds we made in our last lives. If we are to change our fate, then something has to change in this world. What is the point of reliving the same life with the same mistakes? Surely the outcome will be the same? The book is written not to tell us what to do but to make modifications, to erase past errors in judgment. We write our own destiny, a new future by looking to the past and understanding it._

By moving over to Liz, Max broke the strange hold Tess exerted over him. It only occurred when he became physically close. In that instant, Max knew it to be in her mind. A fantasy she projected from the life they once shared. He couldn't deny it but Max didn't need to embrace it either.

'Look,' Max attempted to explain everything going through his head and heart to Liz in a single glance. He didn't have a chance of communicating his intentions when his own mind hadn't yet figured it all out. 'Everything I told you before is still true.'

'Max, you do have a destiny,' Liz couldn't hold back the hurt. Although she felt things with her heart, her logical mind often weighed in. Right now, Liz Parker assimilated the facts before her and any hope died. 'You just heard it. I can't stand in the way of it.'

'But you mean everything to me,' he tried to put into words the ideas running rampant in his head. They seemed desperate to break through everything he'd learnt tonight. The maelstrom needed to settle for Max to think logically. Right now he ran on instinct.

Before Max managed to demonstrate his confusion, Liz leant in. She wanted, needed this last kiss. Unable to deny the woman he'd come to love, Max returned it. Time seemed to stand still for both of them. Still, Liz didn't allow the contact to last. If she did, she'd never find the courage to leave.

'Goodbye, Max,' Liz tried frantically to keep the tears from falling.

She had to get away before the water welling in her eyes formed into the ultimate expression of her devastation. Turning, she took one last look at Max Evans over her shoulder. This could be the last time she'd ever see him. With an internal sigh, Liz Parker forced her feet move. One step after another, she managed to find the strength and courage to continue forwards. Upon hearing the gravel crunching under Max's sneakers as he followed, she begged her body to move faster. All the time, Liz hoped he'd call her back.

'Liz,' Max couldn't help the pain entering his voice. He felt like someone tore him in half. What Pearce did to him in the White Room paled into insignificance compared to losing Liz. Even Pearce came to the conclusion Elisabeth Parker served a higher purpose.

'Liz,' Max called once again, hoping she'd at least stop. 'Liz, wait.' This time the girl of his dreams turned to look at him. The expression in her eyes spoke a million words. He'd lost her, completely, utterly and for a moment Max shut down.

Michael held out a restraining arm as Liz began to run and he felt Max start after her. 'You gotta let her go,' he stated as Tess and Isabel joined them. Staring into the distance, Michael stood beside his friend, watching Liz disappear into the scrub surrounding the pod chamber. He could feel the pain emanating off Max.

'What happens now Max?' Tess asked.

She seemed to simper and want to be close to him. In that moment Max knew. He knew why there'd been five healing stones, why Liz's fears stopped her from joining them and why it took the addition of Venus in Pieces to complete the pattern and unlock the truth.

'We get her back,' he turned to Michael and Isabel, ignoring the look of horror on Tess's face.

Taking off, Max used his abilities to follow Liz. He heard the others begin to follow but didn't have the time or energy to spare on them. The bruised and broken bushes gave away Liz's headlong flight without having to use his power to track her direction. Max saved his abilities to place every obstacle in her way, to slow her down so he'd be able to catch up.

'Liz,' he called in desperation, finally forcing a large boulder before her.

Without a choice, Liz stopped dead. 'What,' she cried, tears now streaming down her face as she turned to face Max. 'What more do you want from me?'

'I want you to make a new destiny with me,' Max implored, holding out his hand and willing her to take it, to join him. 'I've only just worked it out in my own mind. Don't you see, we're meant to be together?'

'How can you say that, Max,' the tears came harder. _God_, Liz thought, _it's so hard to breathe with him this close to me. I can't take another step, I don't want to but what choice do I have. Max's fate is to be with Tess, not me. I'm not strong enough to stand by and hand him over to her._

'You started all of this, Liz and only you can end it,' Max pleaded. 'That day I healed you in the Café, it changed my safe world. I'd been discovered and had to face what is inside me. I couldn't hide anymore. The events of that day led Isabel, Michael and I on a journey. The one constant in that journey has been you.'

'That's not true,' Liz looked down at her shoes. The others stood a little apart, watching and waiting. 'You're the leader, the healer. You've never really needed me to be on this journey with you.'

'That's not true,' Max glared at her, willing the girl to look into his eyes. They'd always communicated that way. 'You're the only one who knew I'm a human alien hybrid and protected the secret with your life. Human, Liz. That destiny, that past you heard in the pod chamber is the alien part of me. It's not who I am, not completely,' he tried to get all the ideas out but they just wouldn't integrate fast enough.

Reaching for her when she refused to come of her own free will, Max embraced Liz. Pulling the woman against his body, Max ensured they met from head to toe. He could feel one of Liz's thighs trapped between his, her stomach and chest molded and held fast to him. Looking into her eyes, the window to her soul, he made sure she connected with him in a way she never had before. This time when their lips met, he streamed the images, the flashes he wanted Liz to see, the feel, touch and taste. The images that might lead her to the same conclusion he'd made.

_You're our seer, our constant, my touchstone_, Max invaded her mind with moments from their past. In the healing cave, Liz stepped away for fear of hurting Max. Standing on the alien symbol as he welcomed Michael back into the land of the living, she approached the middle, her place. The time in the astronomy lab as they discovered Venus joining Pieces to make the pattern complete. _You complete me, Liz. More than that, you're the center, the one to hold us together._

'Do you understand?' Max asked, breaking off the kiss. 'Venus is the Goddess of love and fertility. In Roman mythology she survived the battle of Troy and led her people to safety across the water to a new land. Until the planet Venus aligned into the constellation, nothing could move forward because we didn't have a chance to find our past. Michael didn't understand the map until you aligned with us. Until you're with us, until you join us, we're not complete.'

'You're saying I'm the goddess of love?' Liz tried to understand his reasoning. Her mind overwhelmed with emotions.

'I'm saying you fulfil the same role for us,' Max used every weapon at his disposal. Holding Liz slightly away from his body, he eyes beseeched her to understand the meaning behind his words. 'You're the missing piece. I think my life only began the day I healed you. I'd never done anything like that before Liz, but I knew I had to with you because you were that important. I had to show me, the real me. I knew you'd understand,' he finished lamely.

'The book,' Tess held up the metal sheets almost as if taunting Max.

Releasing Liz, Max stormed over to the girl. Snatching it from her hand, he flipped through the pages. Suddenly the symbols took on a life of their own and he knew what he had to do. The alien letters began to glow. Waving his hand over the metal, the cryptograms moved and reformed, becoming words in English.

'This is what happened to us before, in our other life,' Max held the object in a single hand. 'It's not a destiny as you've always believed Tess. It's our history and we're supposed to learn from it. Learn not to make the same mistakes in this life unless we want history to repeat itself.' Turning to a once blank page, the one opposite the engravings of two pairs, Liz's image appeared in the middle of the V shaped star formation. 'This is the reason why Liz got all those flashes in February when we discovered the first orb. Without Liz we never would have been led to it. Michael, you and Isabel tried but couldn't make the same connections with Maria and Alex. In healing Liz, I changed her. I implanted part of myself inside her. I think I've made Liz one of us.'

'Nasedo said we're human,' Michael began but found the science beyond him.

'He needed you to get in and rescue Max,' Isabel reminded, 'because his bone structure isn't human.'

'Pearce showed me some of the tests,' Max added. 'Our skin, bone and internal organs are consistent with human physiology. Only our blood is different.'

'I'm not sure if Nasedo told me the truth,' Michael suddenly remembered the conversation. 'He said our powers come from the part of the human brain that hasn't been tapped into.'

'You think Max somehow activated that part of my mind?' the scientist in Liz instantly saw the association. 'You're saying I'm using some of the ninety percent of my grey matter that the best neurologists on this planet don't understand?'

'Maybe,' Max shrugged his shoulders, not really caring much about the how or why. He only knew it was and left it at that. Coming to stand beside Liz, he placed an arm around her. 'The fact is I knew I needed you here with me tonight. I don't think we could have healed Nasedo without you, just like we couldn't complete the ritual that saved Michael. You don't need to join in, Liz. You just need to be there for me to feed off your power.'

'Max, you're suggesting I augment you in some way?' Liz asked, shocked.

'More like a focusing lens,' he confessed with a shy smile. 'An arch won't stay up without the keystone and you're my mine. I believe it's our humanity that's changed us for the better and what's going to change the fate of our home world. Nasedo's not like us. He has no emotions or morality as we know it. It's what separates us from our alien heritage. You make me feel, Liz. Whatever the future holds, I need you at my side. Even Nasedo didn't argue when I told him you were with me. That has to mean something.'

'Max,' imploringly, Liz looked at him. One gaze into those amazing hazel eyes and Liz Parker knew she'd do anything for this man. 'I hope I'm strong enough.'

'I don't need to hope, Liz,' Max kissed her softly but quickly. 'I know you are. You shared my pain in that room, you saw what they did to me and you know it's only the thought of you that kept me alive.'

'I won't ever let that change,' Liz vowed, 'ever, I promise.'

* * *

A great big thank you to those who reviewed. I hope to have another chapter up soon and that you're taken note of the subtle changes.


	2. Chapter Two - Enclave

**AN – **Firstly, if you haven't read the revamped chapter one, may I suggest you do. The changes are minor but important. Secondly, I've been reading Roswell Oracle and looked up the shows history. Antares just doesn't match the V shaped constellation in the show. I'm going with Al Risha in Pieces. As this is AU after season one, I guess it really doesn't matter. All will be revealed as to why Liz's flashes in Heat Wave are deceiving.

* * *

The pulse went out. The moment Max, Tess, Isabel and Michael activated the orbs, the quantum particle wave sped through the Earth's atmosphere. It reached an unsuspecting farm house just outside Belleview, Kansas first. Milliseconds later an ordinary suburban home on the outskirts of Jefferson, Missouri received the signal. An inner city apartment in Chicago, Illinois became the next target. The final locations, an isolated lighthouse on the coast of Oregon and a car speeding across a bridge in New York City received the pulse last due to their distance.

The signals arrived within a single second of the initial call. Each activating the electronics in a small black box their owners kept hidden. At first one triangle flashed, then another in no particular sequence. Faster and faster, the lights throbbed while the device vibrated with increasing frequency and a pinging sound filled the air. Finally all five parts, one after another formed a complete pattern. A pentagon composed of five identical triangles illuminated by an unearthly internal light.

'It has begun,' Nasedo, still taking the form of Person, smirked as he observed the device in his hand. He didn't allow any emotion to seep onto his fixed expression. He knew what he must do next, how the plan changed with this event. In the back ground the New York Skyline lit up the night sky like a beacon. It might have been his intended destination a moment ago, but not now. 'I can only hope this time history will not repeat itself. Now there are five I must call the Alliance to Enclave.'

Changing lanes, Nasedo took the next exit. He needed transportation back to New Mexico immediately. Human devices wouldn't allow him to travel almost instantaneously and his powers left a trail if anyone knew how to detect it. After all, that's how he managed to get here so fast. Still he couldn't afford the energy expenditure often and then only in a desperate situation. He also required an isolated spot and the communicator in his hands. The others knew they'd be required to attend when he called but Nasedo had the master device and must activate it first.

'Finally,' he muttered under his breath as the car turned onto a desolate road.

Climbing from the vehicle, Nasedo walked a short distance into the lightly wooded area. Taking the alien device from his pocket, his thumb hovered over one of the triangles. With a deliberate jab at the button, he pressed it with all his might. It turned green as he made the unique connection. Taking the pressure from the pad, he waited for the return signals.

Yellow, orange, red, the triangles lit up one after another signaling an answer to the predetermined call. Barely seconds in between the others would be waiting in an isolated location for the next stage. The final pulse, one he knew may never come, completed the pattern and commenced the Enclave. It represented the final member of the Alliance, the most impervious and least willing to change the future. When it finally came, dawn broke over the mountains before him.

'It is done,' Nasedo let out a very human sigh to relieve the tension.

A blue light joined its companions on the device. Flickering they all returned to a bright white. Then it expanded to envelope him. Not the light of changing from one human form to another. This pure form of energy, generated by his link with the device in his hand dissolved Nasedo's molecular structure. Sucked into the black box only a few particles of dust had been left in its wake. Thousands of miles away Nasedo reformed in the healing cave he'd once shared with the Indian called River Dog. The five spokes of the healing circle still on the ground, he stood at one of the intersection points. Slowly, he became aware of the others materializing around him.

'Why do you call us to Enclave?' asked the woman to his right.

To an outsider, it appeared five very average human beings stood around a stone circle, gazing at each other. Not one of them displayed an emotion on their neutral faces. Indeed, they could get lost in any crowd. The eerie silence the only sign they weren't entirely what they seemed.

'They have uncovered the fifth,' the second woman in the group answered, 'or there would not be five of us and this meeting would not be necessary.'

'Then it truly has begun,' commented an Asian man with a serious expression.

'Why else,' the final member of the group glance at the others with disdain, 'would the device activate. It is what my people designed it for.'

'Stop bickering,' Nasedo demanded, 'and share your Earth names. We must act as one now, to stop the coming invasion. I am Ed Harding. On this world I have been father to Tess since she hatched from the pod.'

'That was not your position,' the first woman sounded slightly angry. 'We are here to protect and serve without contacting them. Their safety comes from anonymity, from being normal human beings. They were to be inconspicuous and blend in until we needed them. Besides, she is my ward and you had no right.'

'Where are the others?' the second woman asked, suddenly concerned. She held more responsibility with two representing her planetary system.

'They were designed to hatch together,' the Asian man stated, worried for his charge. 'The four should have formed an unbreakable bond, inseparable, two pairs as on Al Risha.'

'We all know the ship crashing changed everything,' the first woman sounded infuriated. 'Two were lost in the process and the humans found out about us through the third. These people of Earth were not supposed to uncover our secret until we are ready to unveil our presence. Only you survived to protect the four.'

'What has changed the plan?' the final member looked almost board.

'Stop,' Ed called. 'I cannot answer all your questions at once. I came to the chamber to bury the orb long after they should have hatched. The others had gone. Max and Isabel wandered the desert alone. Michael did not trust them and became separated after they hatched. They had already found human homes. You all know of their current whereabouts and history. Tess remained, trapped in her incubator. I could not leave her to an uncertain fate.'

Nodding sadly at this news, Nasedo captured each person's eye to gain their support for the next stage of their renewed plan. They understood the significance. Somewhere their stratagem malfunctioned. The four should have stayed together. Now the fifth appeared. Each wondered if she would bring balance to the battle that lay ahead.

'I am known as Sally Jenkinson,' the first woman spoke verbally to break the looming silence.

'Anne Fitzroy,' the second woman added, glaring at the first and returning to telepathy.

'Matthew Loh,' the slightly Asian looking man answered.

'Eshehell,' the final member all but whispered into the minds of the others. When they turned on her, she sent them a quelling look. 'I am not human and will not pretend to be. I am here against my better judgment to clean up the mess you have made. It is my people who suffer the most after your mistakes, Ed Harding.'

'That is why our worlds are in trouble,' Sally spat, 'why we have been forced to take this human form. Your people will not obey or take part in the Alliance.'

'Stop,' Nasedo held out a hand. 'These are old arguments left over from our previous lives. We cannot change the past. While you came to this Earth recently to replace those who were lost, I am the one who has stood by them all these years. I am the only truly independent. Each of you has someone to protect.'

'Meaning?' demanded Anne, feeling she had more right.

'We know of the crash and the loss of those onboard,' Matthew spoke. 'It is why we were sent to continue the plan. Your presence and dedication has been noted.'

'The three followed the plan until one year ago,' Nasedo closed his eyes and opened his mind completely. They communicated telepathically, allowing Ed Harding to replay the events of the last year instantaneous.

'Max woke the fifth,' Anne covered her eyes with a hand when Nasedo finished flashing the images. She understood the meaning only too well, just as her companions would.

'I will proceed from here,' Esthehell stated without emotion, 'alone. You have destroyed any chance to save this world, Ed Harding, with your interference. History must not repeat itself.'

'How can history repeat itself,' Anne challenged. 'Max has woken the fifth. That did not occur in our time. You showed us the bond between them. The change has been made so why have we been called to Enclave?'

'Because,' Esthehell's eyes flared with indignation, 'he holds back vital information. Ed Harding retains the destiny book and filled Tess's head with prophecy of the past. She believes Ed Harding to be her protector, originating from the same planet. Tess believes Max to be her destiny. She has betrayed Max once again and plays into Kivar's hands. The invasion of Earth will be successful if we can't contain this.'

'We could not save our worlds,' Sally mourned, 'but it is hoped we can stop Kivar's lust for power over the rest of the galaxy.'

'Then all is lost,' Matthew analyzed the situation, 'unless we act immediately. Where are they? We must know, Ed and go to them. Our standing back and watching is at an end.'

'They were at the pod chamber when I left them,' Nasedo stated, 'and determined to set off the orbs forcing this Enclave. Max refuses to relinquish the fifth.'

'He took her to the chamber,' Anne glared at Esthehell. 'She has no right. She is one of you, not us.'

'It is the reason we are here,' Nasedo appeared nonplused by the conversation. 'They are unaware of her true gifts or the issues her presence has caused.'

'Yet you deliberately exposed Tess to the book without giving her the knowledge to understand it,' Esthehell commented. 'Tess then used her powers to drive a wedge between Max and the fifth. We all know the events that lead to the down fall of our alliance, our civilization. He fights for the survival of humanity and through it the ability to save our peoples. Ed Harding is fighting for his world. He alone has no one to protect on Earth. He is not invested in the future the way we are. His actions are indisputable. He is a traitor to the greater cause.'

One glance at Nasedo and the truth unfolded. Nothing could be kept secret between the members of the enclave when linked telepathically. They'd been reengineered to ensure trust and cooperation between the five worlds they represented. Not only their individual survival depended on it, but the fate of all the known habited planets in the galaxy.

'What are your plans,' Matthew requested, turning to Esthehell as though the woman now took control of the group.

'You are going to the fifth?' Anne asked, slightly afraid.

'It is time Liz Parker met her birth mother,' Esthehell stated, turning and walking out of the cave. As she did so, Esthehell touched the upper right hand star in the formation on the wall. It began to glow with a faint blue hue without inserting the healing stone.

'What do we do now,' Sally asked, looking to the others.

'Follow the plan,' Matthew responded, stepping away from the circle, 'as best we can and await Esthehell's communications.'

As they approached the map on the wall, each lightly touched their world's stellar representation. Matthew's home began to glow yellow below Esthehell's. Next Anne caressed the indentation at the base of the V. It turned a vibrant red. Sally came next, contacting the dimple above and to the left which glowed orange. Finally Nasedo lit the final space with a soft green radiance.

* * *

Let me know what you think - is it worth continuing?


	3. Chapter Three - A New Destiny

**AN -** Sorry its taken so only to get back to my Roswell stories. I lost all the data on my thumb drive without backing it up. Thousands and thousands of words. I'm attempting to recreate the stories now. On top of that I've been sick over Christmas and New Year. I hope everyone had a great time. I will try to update a little more often but my work schedule will be hellish for January.

* * *

'We have to go back to the pod chamber,' Liz decided, stopping dead along the trail.

Isabel led the way back to Tess's SUV. Her long legs and even longer stride eating up the distance. The petite blond followed, disheartened and looking to the ground. She hadn't said a word in the last ten minutes as they trudged to her car. Michael brought up the rear, scowling at Max. It increased the moment Liz made her comment into the silence of the dessert. Until that moment they'd all be lost in their own private and somewhat hellish thoughts.

'What do you mean,' Michael said irritably, placing a hand on his forehead. 'Look, we need to get back to Roswell and decide what we're going to do next, not stay here waiting for whoever might answer that signal.'

'**_I_** need to go back,' Liz stated in a quiet but determined tone. Instantly her eyes sought and found Max's. He melted under her intense stare. No matter what occurred in the last few days or the emotional turmoil of an hour ago, they'd grown even closer. 'And so do you.'

'Come on,' Max took her hand. Turning around, he started back the way they'd just come. Although he didn't get any flashes, he could read the importance radiating off Liz.

Rolling her eyes, Isabel placed a hand on her hip and muttered under her breath, 'really.'

Tess looked furious. Blond curls bobbing in time to her stilted steps, she waited for Isabel to march past. If her blue orbs could have spat fire, they would have singed both Max and Liz. Michael simply stood like a sentinel, waiting to once again take up his place at the back of the line. Silence surrounded them, thick and heavy.

Max opened the cave entrance without a word. Standing aside he allowed Liz to enter first, telling her this was her show. She went over to the pods, not sure what she looked for. The others gathered in the defuse light cascading into the small space as the dark haired girl walked around, seemingly aimlessly. After completing one circuit, Liz came to stand before Max.

'Can you get me the orb please,' she requested in an intense voice.

Nodding, Max found the shelf they'd used to store the devices. He felt a sensitivity towards the orb on the right, almost as though it pulled him to it. Placing it gently in his cupped hands, Max came to stand before Liz. He let his fingers brush along hers as he handed the object into her waiting fingers.

Holding the device in her left hand, she stroked the symbol with her right. Nothing happened. Closing her eyes, Liz tried to will something to occur. Nothing, not a spark.

'I've never touched one of these before,' she stated into the room. Sharing a glance with each other, the Royal Four couldn't believe the statement. 'Even when Max and I found it in the dessert, something, a fear stopped me from going near it. I kind of wondered if all the flashes where the direct result of the orb calling to me but that just didn't make sense.'

'Try the other one,' Isabel suggested, never willing to admit she'd become curious. Taking it from the shelf, she indicated Max should retrieve the first orb. 'There heavy, Liz.'

'The symbols are reversed,' she commented looking at the new object analytically.

'I didn't notice that,' Max responded now showing the orb in his hand to the others gathered around him. They compared it to the one held by Liz. 'It's almost as if they are mirror images.'

'Max,' Liz demanded, holding out her palm, 'please give me the other one. I think they're a matched pair.'

The moment she took the orb, a bright green force shield appeared around Liz. She felt the changes taking place at a molecular level. The junk DNA, usually lying dormant in the human genome used the energy supplied by the devices in her hands. Hidden among this non coding area, a fifth and sixth nuclear base pair existed in Elisabeth Parker. Able to express themselves for the first time, they coded a new form of RNA. This messenger molecule began to rally the thirty five new amino acids Liz's body had been storing since the day of her birth. Bursting forth, they hurried to make chains which turned into proteins. However her clever genetics were a long way from done. Allowing internal bonds to from, secondary, tertiary and even quaternary folding occurred giving the long chain of amino acids a three dimensional shape. It became an enzyme capable of creating monumental change. Now in a usable form, this molecule crossed the blood brain barrier. Seeping into Liz's neural cortex, it began to make the necessary changes to her human biochemistry.

Within her brain mitochondria, the AMP/ADP/ATP pathway became a secondary energy producing system. Generating a completely new conduit, the ten percent of the human brain that Elizabeth Parker normally used became fifty percent in a nanosecond. Telepathy, telekinesis and molecular exchange became possible. As her body took the necessary steps to complete the process, to increase her biological capacity to utilize just over ninety percent of her cerebral matter, she would uncover new and amazing powers.

To the four waiting on the other side of the green barrier, time seemed to stop. Isabel glared at Michael while she looked to Max with concern. They'd all had an emotional upheaval not an hour ago in this very room. Although she'd never admit it, Isabel felt it more than most. She'd finally met her biological Mother. The feelings that hologram set off confused her.

Tess appeared to want to kill something or someone. Nesado had never prepared her for this eventuality. Still reeling from the fact Max chose Liz over his destiny, she felt numb. Michael looked on the scene with his usual expression of astonishment. He'd become less than a friend with Liz and more than an acquaintance after taking her journal and reading it. Seeming at odds with her, in fact with all humans, he couldn't let anyone get close.

Max simply panicked. Dancing around the green force shield, he couldn't wait for it to fall so he could scoop Liz into his safe, warm embrace. When it occurred, she fell to her knees, dropping both orbs on the floor and allowing them to roll away.

'Liz,' Max moved to her side without knowing how.

'Don't touch me,' she scuttled away on the floor.

Taking refuge in one of the pods, she curled into a ball. The transformation had given her flashes. Alien, incomprehensible insights she needed time to work out. If anyone touched her now she might lose them. If anyone touched her now, she'd link with them telepathically. Keeping Max's emotions beyond her newly formed and delicate barriers proved to be more difficult than she's imagined.

'Please,' Max begged, once again trying to get close.

Holding out a hand, Liz's fingers felt the moment the green shield engaged. Trapping her in the pod, she felt the back of the space with her opposite hand. Under the gentle pressure, the walls caved. An un-Earthly glow emanated from beyond the tunnel.

'The Granolith,' she stated, dropping her shield. Backing up the comment with a mental prod, she invited the others to follow her.

Be wonderment showed on all five faces. 'Where are we?' Michael demanded as he entered the chamber. He liked new and unexpected situations least of all.

'I think,' Tess looked around her, 'this is how we got here.'

'No way,' Michael argued. 'We came out of the ship from the '47 crash.'

'I don't think so,' Max stated, his eyes never having left Liz. 'What happened back there?'

'Fate,' Liz finally turned to gaze on the Royal Four. 'Destiny, call it what you will. Isabel, do you still have the book?'

'Yes,' she handed it over when Liz indicated she needed it.

Flipping to a page that had once been blank, Liz held her palm over the metal plate. On the page opposing the engravings of two pairs, a pregnant woman and man, words appeared. Turning the leaf over, a second lithograph of the couple's faces began to glow with a soft white light. Once again words took shape. This time a fifth image materialised with a striking resemblance to Liz.

'What does this mean,' Isabel asked, completely dumbfounded.

'It means, don't make the same mistakes as in the past,' Liz reported in an exhausted tone. Even with her new energy source at a molecular level, the changes occurring in her body required rest and recuperation. But she knew they hadn't finished here tonight. 'We need to study this book.'

'How the hell are you doing that,' Michael almost yelled. In the confusion, no one else noticed Liz hadn't once opened her mouth. 'How are you talking to us?'

'Telepathy,' Liz announced, clearly trying to work the muscles of her face. 'It's part of the new me.'

In that instant she realised something. To have a fifth and sixth de-ribonuclease pair in her genetic make-up, she couldn't be of this Earth, at least not entirely. Closing her eyes to concentrate, Liz found she had almost instant recall. That meant one of her parents couldn't belong to her biologically. The memories of every family photograph she'd ever seen cascaded through her mind. Not one showed a pregnant Nancy Parker. Not one showed a nursing Nancy Parker. Not one showed a newborn in Nancy Parker's arms.

Yet she knew her father. Instinctively, or perhaps at a coded genetic level, she felt part of Jeff Parker in her makeup. Somehow her father got another woman pregnant, deliberately or by surrogacy. It explained the bond between father and daughter and the stilted, somewhat cautious relationship with her mother.

'What do you mean,' Max's terror at this piece of news clearly showed on his face, 'part of the new you? What happened when you were in that bubble?'

'The reason I'm in that book,' she pointed to the metal sheets now in Tess's hand, 'is a new destiny. You were right Max, we have to find our own fate.'

Tess had taken the book after Liz metamorphosed the pages. It had fallen from her fingers. Capturing it, she'd retreated to the edge of the Granolith to read it. Placing it on the edge of the upright white crystal, Tess didn't want to share the translation. She didn't need to. The Granolith took the book as a sign to come to life. As it sensed the five lives, a pulse went out to the five guardians. Bouncing back a signal, it knew they were close and would soon been here. All it needed to do now was follow its prime objective.

A white light shot out of the top of the pyramid towards Max and Liz. Encompassing them, the colour changed slightly. A vibrant red beam separated and curled around Max. The same occurred to Liz, only the iridescent blue circled her form. As the refracted light split, the bolt of Yellow surrounded Michael and the orange, Tess. The remaining colours, indigo and green faded into obscurity. A pale pink reached Isabel. It became a deeper red as the colours twirling around Max and Liz coalesced. Finally, in the space between them, a violet space existed.

'Max,' Liz understood one of her visions. Reaching out into the swirling mass of colour, she requested, 'take my hand and then we step in together.'

'Why,' he asked, mystified.

'You wanted a new destiny,' Liz swallowed hard, hoping he'd understand her words, 'the Granolith is offering it to you.'

'What is it offering,' he whispered.

'Me,' she stated, her eyes locked with his.

Nodding, Max reached out to encompasses his destiny. Fingers touched, palms contacted, hands entwined and they both stepped into the light made from their individual colours at the same moment.

'What the universe has combined,' a sultry voice whispered into their minds, 'nothing can divide. Go now and be always as one in your new destiny.'

* * *

Please leave me a line or two and tell me what you really think. All positive criticism is welcome. I also write under Trixfan, but the material is a little different. If you feel the need, please amble over there and look me up.


End file.
